Last few days in Great Harbour Cay Marina

AJAYA'S CRUISE
Phil & Nikki Hoskins
Sat 21 Mar 2015 16:24
We found eggs at the grocery store in Bullock’s Harbour and a few days later returned for some more. ‘Skip’ asked if they would be from the same hen – old joke – not funny anymore but raised a laugh from the shop proprietor. However there was precious little else remotely fresh of vegetable origin. The mail boat delivery was still almost a week away from bringing any produce to Great Harbour Cay. It’s no coincidence that Bahamian fare side dishes consist of macaroni & cheese (mac & cheese), peas & rice and coleslaw as all of those ingredients do not readily perish in the sometimes extended periods between mail boats delivering fresher goods.
 
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Spotted on the walk into town – not sure a tree would help – and the wonderful motto at the school gate ‘Welcome to Gate Beautiful – Enter to learn, Exit to lead’
 
We took off to explore some more ruins from the exclusive 60’s club that litter the area but not before visiting Bardot Beach – presumably named as it was a favourite of hers to visit perhaps?  It’s a bankside beach – not facing the ocean so is sandy, shallow and lined with mangrove trees.
 
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Then it was back to visit some more ruins – this one being part of the same complex and just a short distance from the old clubhouse we described last time.
 
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It all looks pretty precarious but the surrounding balcony was solid concrete and unlikely to be ready to give way for a few more years yet!
 
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This must have been a very luxurious building with multiple circular rooms over three stories. Most of the floors and ceilings and roof of course have collapsed inwards as you would expect....
 
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....but still interesting to speculate on its past history linked with the rich and famous of that time. It closed after only six years of operation and was left to go to rack and ruin.
 
Our walk continued across the disused part of the golf course with just nine of the eighteen holes still playable, across the bridge by the old clubhouse and along a track that accessed some sixty lodges built as part of the complex we described last time. The fire truck was still parked on the course near the scene of the bush fire......
 
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                                                                            The tanks are filled from the various sources of well water around the island.
 
Along the track were abandoned golf carts and an interesting vehicle that was covered in pine needles but front still distinguishable from back – assuming it had the engine in the front of course! Where the remainder of the car had gone is not obvious.
 
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Not sure of the vintage but they don’t seem to have changed much over the years - as for the car, that’s anybody’s guess – it did still have what looked like a V8 engine under the pine needles
 
Our last night in the marina proved to be full of entertainment as there was a poolside function raising funds principally for the Bullocks Harbour School. A silent auction to sell paintings from local artists and budding artists from the school itself was one of the best fund raisers with some excellent works in both categories. Tickets for the event were good value at $10 each which included a hearty meal provided by the local ladies who had been busy cooking over several days as there was enough food to feed a small army. Side dishes included -you’ve guessed it - mac & cheese and peas & rice but no coleslaw so they really were out of cabbages. Prior to getting stuck in we strolled round the various tables, bought a T-shirt and took a close look at the pictures in the auction.
 
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Visitors gathering at the event – most of the island’s wealthy seemed to be there judging by the silent auction bids.     Alongside T-shirts – well what’s wrong with selling a few home grown herbs
 
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These two pictures were popular, the seascape fetching over $500 with the smaller ones averaging $250. One local spent in excess of $1000 on artwork
 
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The works, mainly from one artist, all sold including all of the school children's works which raised between $30-50 each.
 
After the food came the local Junkanoo dancers putting on an entertaining performance for the visitors. The usual selection of drums and percussion, the fifty gallon base drum beat penetrating through our bodies as it passed our table. The youngsters were just delightfully cute in their colourful costumes. They get them into the Junkanoo dancing early in the Bahamas.
 
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It’s Junkanoo time !!
 
Being past our bedtime we meandered back to the boat as the local DJ changed the theme from Caribbean dance music to ‘favourites’ such as YMCA. This didn’t seem in keeping with the event but probably had some of the visitors on the feet dancing whilst trying to avoid falling into the swimming pool. A good evening was had by all and the Gomez School did exceptionally well from the proceeds.
 
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                                                                          Not forgetting of course the gathering of ‘Admirals’ pic taken by the ‘skippers’ which ended our evening
 
 
Time to see more of the Berry Islands...........